Stand Up to the Sitting Disease

In times past, we got much more activity in the work place. We lifted, we carried, we hammered and we walked. With recent advances in technology, the majority of us now spend our work days sitting at a desk. Outside of the workplace, we continue to spend much of our time sitting. We drive our cars, watch television, go to the movies or catch up on Facebook. Health care professionals are calling it the "Sitting Disease”. As a result of our inactivity, we burn less sugar and fat and our health risks increase. Recently, Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic stated, "If you've been sitting for an hour, you've been sitting too long”. Whether in the workplace or at home, we can wake up our muscles with just 2 minutes of movement every 30 minutes. Here are some ways we can add a little "standup time” to our days:

  • Set a timer. Use an alarm clock or your phone to remind you that it's time to get up. Put your clock/phone out of reach and when you get up to turn it off, incorporate some other moves.
  • Take a quick walk. Head to the bathroom or go and get a cup of water. Instead of sending an email to someone across the hall, get up and walk over to them. (The other bonus to this is that you can see their reaction and potentially avoid any miscommunication.)
  • Challenge yourself. See how far you can walk and be back in your office in two minutes.
  • March in place. Keep this up for a minute.
  • Stand up, sit down. Repeat this for a minute. Use your thigh and butt muscles to rise up from your chair. No hands allowed!!
  • Just stand. You burn more calories standing than sitting. You might stand or pace when reading a document or talking on the phone.
  • Take the stairs to use a washroom on a different floor. Stairs are actually exercise equipment hiding in plain sight.
  • Have "stand up” meetings. This gets other people moving as well. (These meetings tend not to drag on.)
  • Sit on an exercise ball at your desk for 10-15 minutes every couple of hours. This uses the muscles in your legs, butt and core.
  • At home, take a commercial break. Prime time television has 14-21 minutes of advertisements every hour giving yourself plenty of time to move around and still enjoy your favourite program.

It is important to have an awareness of our sitting habits and to develop ways to move. We should all think about how we can make an activity "chair free” and then just do it. The challenge is to stand, move, sit and stand throughout all our waking hours. With Easter weekend coming up, see you if you can come up with some creative ways to sit a little less and stand a little more. Hang out standing around instead of sitting at the table. Leave the food in the kitchen, while you sit to eat in the dining room. If anyone wants more, they'll have to get up to get it. We can all benefit if we stretch our vision a little further and make the most of it!!

Don't ever give up!

References: Your Weight Matters Magazine, Winter 2014, Setting the Pace, pages 13-14
Real Age website, Share Care tips of the week, April 14-16, 2014